As for the defects detected in a visual inspection of a semiconductor wafer (detected defects), in order to review their details, a defect to be reviewed (reviewed defect) is selected (sampled) from the detected defects and is reviewed with a scanning electron microscope or the like.
Examples of prior art regarding a systematic defect among various types of defect are as follows.
Non-Patent Document 1 discloses a method in which a group of “position dependent repeat defects” present at the same place when seen per chip and a group of “pattern layout dependent repeat defects” present on the same pattern layout found by the search of pattern layout near the points of detected defects are extracted from among defects on a wafer that are obtained as a result of a visual inspection of a semiconductor wafer, these two groups are considered as candidates for systematic defects due to exposure process and mask, and then reviewed defects are sampled from these two groups.